Bone grafting has been commonly used to augment healing in the treatment of a broad range of musculoskeletal disorders. This procedure has several disadvantages. If the bone material is obtained from donors of the same species, such as an allograft, an increased risk of disease transmission and immune reaction exists. Bone material surgically removed from the patient, known as an autograft, is also undesirable because a sufficient amount of autogenous bone may not be available and the additional surgery necessary to obtain the autograft increases the risk of infection.
Due to the need for safer bone graft materials, efforts have been directed to finding bone graft substitutes. Candidate compositions include collagen and a bioceramic, such as hydroxyapatite, as these components are the chief structural materials in bone tissue. Bioceramics provide a porous matrix which encourages some new bone growth but, when used in powdered form, give rise to foreign body-giant cell reactions. Other compositions include demineralized bone powder and collagen. The osteogenic potential of these compositions have been found to be less than satisfactory.
The discovery of osteogenic factors and their application to bone graft substitute compositions has increased the effectiveness of the above-mentioned compositions. Although many preparations purport to be effective in bone repair in vertebrates, including higher animals such as primates, most of the experimentation done with the compositions have involved lower animals, such as mice and rats.
In light of this background, there remains a need for improved osteogenic compositions and methods that effectively induce bone growth in higher animals, including primates.